WLAN

OK guys, i just myself a kick ass HP IPAQ 4155 and i really want to use WLAN. But the prices are still pretty steep, around 30 bucks a month, so i was thinking about just using it at home. However, i have a wired network and i want to move to WLAN to enable my PDA to surf the web at blazing speed too. So i got a few simple questions:

1) Some wireless routers say i can share my printer. Currently, i cant because all i ahve is a router and not a switch. So if i get wireless router, can i still share my dsl to other computers and have file/printer sharing through wired LAN AND have WLAN for my PDA?

2) What do i need to buy to have wireless LAN and file/printer sharing capibilities? Do i need to get a wireless router, seperate WLAN cards, and keep my ethernet cards to hook up my file/printer sharing network?

I want the cheapest way possible because ive already spent like 100 bucks on a router, ethernet card, and cables. Thanks a lot guys.

Originally posted by endlesszeal@Feb 18 2004, 02:49 PM OK guys, i just myself a kick ass HP IPAQ 4155 and i really want to use WLAN. But the prices are still pretty steep, around 30 bucks a month, so i was thinking about just using it at home. However, i have a wired network and i want to move to WLAN to enable my PDA to surf the web at blazing speed too. So i got a few simple questions:

1) Some wireless routers say i can share my printer. Currently, i cant because all i ahve is a router and not a switch. So if i get wireless router, can i still share my dsl to other computers and have file/printer sharing through wired LAN AND have WLAN for my PDA?

2) What do i need to buy to have wireless LAN and file/printer sharing capibilities? Do i need to get a wireless router, seperate WLAN cards, and keep my ethernet cards to hook up my file/printer sharing network?

I want the cheapest way possible because ive already spent like 100 bucks on a router, ethernet card, and cables. Thanks a lot guys.

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Just buy a cheap wireless access point and connect it to one of your router's ports. You don't need any special hardware to share printers and files over wireless and wired networks, don't fall for that shit (unless you are talking about a standalone print server). Your router/switch/AP make no difference when it comes to that.

Buy a small AP and connect it to your router. It'll integrate seemlessly into your network and allow your PDA to surf just like your other boxen. Your printers can be shared off of whatever computer they are connected to (a'la Windows Sharing), just like your files. If your PDA has the capabilities, it will be able to access them too.

it may be convenient to use WLAN capabilities, but its a waste. the connection isnt bad, but it sucks to view whole pages on the damn thing. i also bought the aim service, and installed it... its slow as fuck.

i wish there was a way to upgrade my processor... ive got a 256mb expansion sd card. im thinking of sellin the thing. i paid 150 and it came with the card. wonder what i could get for it.

you are better off using a cheap 200mhz laptop with win95 if you want wlan capabilities with relative ease.

the cheapest AP are like 60 bucks.. why cant i use get the Wireless AP and 4 port router in one? will that let me connect my current desktops to the router via the port and pda via wireless?? also how do i file sharing??? could u show me a diagram?

Originally posted by endlesszeal@Feb 18 2004, 11:40 PM the cheapest AP are like 60 bucks.. why cant i use get the Wireless AP and 4 port router in one? will that let me connect my current desktops to the router via the port and pda via wireless?? also how do i file sharing??? could u show me a diagram?

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Because the AP is cheaper. You've got a solid wired network, just add wireless to it with an AP.

A four port router will do the trick too. It will allow your wired systems to access your DSL modem and the wireless will allow your PDA to do the same.

File sharing can be done through Windows. Make sure you have 'File and Printer sharing for Microsoft Networks' installed under your network card settings for each of yer boxen. After that, select the drive you want to share, right click it, select 'Sharing', set up the drive with whatever name you want and boom, the drive's shared. To access that drive from another computer, double click on Network Neighborhood (or whatever XP calls it), select the system with the drive, right click on the drive, and select 'Map Network Drive'. Select a drive name, hit OK and that's it.

Printer sharing works the same way. Just do the exact same thing, but under 'Printers'.

If you do Linux, crank up Samba and read the smb.conf.sample in your /etc directory on how to set up a Samba server. Using smbmount, you can mount Windows shares reguardless of your Samba server settings. Simply type smbmount //system/drive /mountpoint. For example, say you want to mount drive "Music" from computer "Harem" to mount point "/share/music". Type smbmount \\Harem\Music /share/music . That should mount the drive straight to that directory. Go there and the files should exist just as they would on your Windows machine.

haha okay lets start over now.. i just got a LinkSys Wireless and 4 port router.. the cheapest AP was 60 and this costed 60 bucks too.. I sold my old router for 20 bucks.. I connected everything and its working great, EXCEPT, how the hell do i setup my PDA to connect to it???? im completely lost.. i have Win Pro XP and a IPAQ h4155.. i cant figure how to make my PDA pick up the wireless.. Also, can you repeat the "file/printer sharing" procedure again?? I dont even know what the thing u wanted me to make sure was installed.. Remember that im computer illiterate and Celesta has helped me on several occasions.. Thanks for being so patience with my ignorance. My sincerest graditude.

Originally posted by endlesszeal@Feb 19 2004, 01:15 AM haha okay lets start over now.. i just got a LinkSys Wireless and 4 port router.. the cheapest AP was 60 and this costed 60 bucks too.. I sold my old router for 20 bucks.. I connected everything and its working great, EXCEPT, how the hell do i setup my PDA to connect to it???? im completely lost.. i have Win Pro XP and a IPAQ h4155.. i cant figure how to make my PDA pick up the wireless.. Also, can you repeat the "file/printer sharing" procedure again?? I dont even know what the thing u wanted me to make sure was installed.. Remember that im computer illiterate and Celesta has helped me on several occasions.. Thanks for being so patience with my ignorance. My sincerest graditude.

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Okay, I gotcha.

I'm assuming that you use DHCP to obtain IP addresses for your wired machines (They set themselves up for the network). Under your PDA, Select WIFI On. Find your network settings. Give the PDA your router's SSID (You'll see this under the router settings. If it's not been changed, then the SSID is Linksys). Tell it to obtain IP addresses, DNS and gateway settings via DHCP. If you use WEP encryption, give it the encryption key.

From there, you should be able to tell the PDA to search for networks and, if all goes well, it will find the AP and get all the info it needs to connect.

Okay, Find your network settings for your computers. (Assuming you are running Windows). Go to "Network and Dialup Connections" Right click on your network connection and select "Properties" A box should pop up with the settings for the card. At the bottom, there should be a list of bindings. TCP/IP should be one of them. The ones you need for Windows file sharing are "Client for Microsoft Networks", "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" and "NetBEUI". If these are not installed, then install them. You may need your install CD so have it ready.

Install... Reboot. See ya in five.

After that comes back up, right click on "My Computer". Click on the "Network Identification" tab. This should show you the current workgroup name and computer name. You'll want to keep the same workgroup name for all your computers, but give them a different computer name. Hopefully this shouldn't require another reboot.

After you've done that, select a drive or a folder that you want to share and right click it. Select "Sharing" from the list. Click on the "Share this Folder". Give it a share name, the default name is the name of the drive or folder and should be good. Click OK.

Go to one of your other computers and install the same file sharing parts under the Network Settings. After all that, double click on Network Neighborhood. Both computers should be in the list. Double click on the one with the shared folder. A list of folers shared will appear. Right click on the one you want to access and click on "Map Network Drive". Select a drive letter and press OK. Another screen should pop up with the folder contents mapped to the drive letter you have selected.

Hope this helps. I'll check this thread and see if you need any more help.

i tired looking for NETBEUI and microsoft so they no longer support it and its not avaiable for XP.. the problem is they told me to pop in my XP cd and its pirated so ugh yeah.. oh yeah im trying to network a XP Pro and XP Home.. anymore help? uve been great.